A new member of TMSA, the Port of Long Beach is one of America’s premier seaports and a trailblazer in goods movement and environmental stewardship. Trade valued annually at more than U.S. $180 billion moves through Long Beach each year. More than 7.5 million container units were imported and exported in 2017 through the Port, making it the second-busiest seaport in the United States. Everything from clothing and shoes to toys, furniture and consumer electronics arrives at the Port before making its way to store shelves throughout the country. Specialized terminals also move petroleum, automobiles, cement, lumber, steel and other products.

Jeff Davis is founder of The Sales + Marketing Alignment Summit, an executive peer-to-peer event series that develops actionable insights for companies struggling to achieve alignment that drives revenue. He is a keynote speaker at the 2018 TMSA Logistics Marketing & Sales Conference.

I think that most B2B leaders across industries would agree that Sales and Marketing Alignment is a necessary transformation that needs to happen. This is a historical relationship that has suffered for many reasons. As more and more focus and information starts to be generated about this alignment, my fear is that executives will lose sight of what is important - the shiny object syndrome. Thus, it is my intent to help drive for clarity while using the great research and insights we get from industry experts. We can have all the greatest insights, research, and thought-leadership, however, if we can't make it actionable for today's leaders then it becomes useless. We need to focus on creating a framework for success.

More than 40 sales, marketing and business professionals in transportation and logistics gathered April 6 at the Toronto Airport Marriott Hotel. Sponsored by the Marlik Group, this seminar highlighted facilitated discussions among attendees involving commercial freight transportation in Canada.

State of Canada’s Transportation IndustryPart of the discussion included context around the state of the commercial freight industry in North America, and how marketing and sales metrics are helping to drive productivity in the industry. Attendees expressed some concerns over potential changes in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and their impact on trade (and ultimately transportation and logistics activity) between companies in Canada and the United States. There’s also ongoing concern over tight trucking capacity and how to creatively address it to maximize productivity and profitability.

Don’t feel bad; it happens to all of us. It’s the cycle of life in the business world. But whether you are taking on a new role or sailing into retirement, it’s important that the person following your footsteps is ready and able to tackle the challenge. Hopefully, that person is already on the payroll.

The Transportation Marketing & Sales Association will host its first-ever TMSA Logistics Digital Marketers Conference. This two-day event will take place Oct. 15-16 in Chicago.

There's a significant trend of companies in the transportation and logistics industries to leverage digital marketing strategies to achieve business goals and revenue growth. In fact, 44 percent of marketing category spend is focused on customer acquisition and lead generation, according to the 2017 TMSA Sales & Marketing Metrics Study, with much of the budget being focused on content marketing, engagement via website and digital marketing, sales and marketing automation, and other related initiatives.

When it comes to identifying high-potential (hi-po) leaders, the 9-Box has become a familiar template, largely because of its highly publicized usage at GE. However, the template provides no guidance on how to define “high potential.” Many large organizations view high potential as the capacity to reach a certain executive level (such as Vice President) within a specific time frame (5 years, for example). But that approach is not meaningful in smaller companies with fewer management layers. Any size organization can have difficulty differentiating genuine hi-pos from people who are solid performers but have limited potential to succeed in much more complex roles.

As noted in a Harvard Business Review article (“How to Keep Your Top Talent”; May 2010), only about 30% of high-performing leaders have significant advancement potential. Put another way, 70% of high-performing leaders do not qualify as high potential! What this suggests is that a track record of high performance is a necessary, but not sufficient, factor in determining advancement potential.

Did you know that most data breaches are opportunistic rather than targeted? I certainly didn’t until I attended a technology conference and learned so much during a session on the topic of cyber security. I am sharing some of the things I learned but all credit goes to the SMC3conference and the panelists.

Ryan Caravalho is Marketing Coordinator with Approved Freight, a Dewitt Company and TMSA member. Approved Freight serves the unique shipping needs of the Hawaii and Guam trades and provides freight forwarding throughout the mainland U.S. For more information, visit www.approvedforwarders.com

Why the cheapest international freight option isn’t always the bestEveryone is trying to save money. Whether it’s for your vacation fund, or for a company-wide initiative to ratchet down unnecessary spending, more money in your pockets means more gains at the end of the year. But for freight, like most things in life, you usually get what you pay for with the cheapest carrier. When you cut corners, and hire a subpar freight carrier, the long-term negative effects can wreak havoc on your bottom line. Underqualified carriers entice shippers with rock-bottom prices, and shippers don’t properly weigh the disadvantages before choosing. You might save some cash up front. But over the long-term, the potential for mishaps and lost revenue grows. Finding value and expertise in a forwarder will help you more than shopping for the lowest price.

It’s all the buzz in circles of marketers in transportation and logistics who leverage Facebook and other social media channels for their efforts. With Facebook under fire for allegedly improperly collecting and misusing the data of as many as 50 million users, it has prompted scrutiny from users and marketers alike.

Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted publicly that this was a breach of trust between Facebook and the people who share their data with Facebook, and has made a pledge: “We need to fix that.”

As part of its member growth strategy in Canada set forth by the Transportation Marketing & Sales Association, TMSA is hosting a Connections Seminar at the Toronto Airport Marriott April 6. This seminar highlights facilitated discussions among marketing, communications, sales and business professionals in North American transportation and logistics. Connections seminars take place throughout the year in targeted cities where TMSA has a presence in members and prospects with the intention to advance TMSA's mission: To help its members and their companies to make sales, marketing and communications strategies more effective, productive and profitable.

The seminar will provide context around the state of the commercial freight industry in North America, and how marketing and sales metrics are helping to drive productivity in the industry. There also will be discussion and content focused on how to leverage sales and marketing to generate business. In addition, marketing and sales best practices will be available for review from such leading companies as Bison Transport, Hub Group, TMW Systems, YRC Freight, Navis, and CSX.

After all, people are the most valuable asset in an organization, so it makes sense to explore all avenues for hiring the best talent. In considering personality tests for that purpose, everyone is looking to gain a competitive advantage, but no one wants to waste money.

Developing video content doesn’t necessarily need to be costly – but it can be. Whether you’re going for “high-end” production quality or low-end practicality, intelligent transportation marketing professionals need to be smart in how they plan, produce, position, and promote their content to generate solid ROI. Here are tips from several TMSA members for ensuring your video investments are strategic, relevant, memorable, and purposeful.

1. Be intelligent with the process as well as the video product. Before you pick up your camera, consider the role video should play in telling your brand’s story, along with the steps required to produce, position and measure your content. Proactive planning will help you make smarter decisions about how to use, deploy, leverage and repurpose the video content you generate.

Video is rapidly gaining popularity as the most effective way to drive your marketing strategy. But it's important to know how you're wanting to use video in your overall strategy - and integrate it into your marketing in a thoughtful, relevant way. Many TMSA members are doing so, and we recognize them for their intelligent use of video.

There are several ways that video can be used in your marketing. Let's take a look at how a few transportation and logistics marketing companies (and TMSA members) are using video:

Mergers, acquisitions, and business integrations - these are all strategic moves many players in transportation and logistics are incorporating into their own strategic direction. And with this comes the challenges and opportunities of either rebranding, enhancing an existing brand, or building an entirely new brand. A recent example involves Roadrunner Transportation Systems and Ascent Global Logistics, a TMSA member.

Last week, Roadrunner Transportation Systems made the exciting announcement of its business integration to enhance client solutions and scale for future growth. This integration involved five Ascent Global Logistics Operating Companies and Roadrunner Truckload Plus, all of which will be unified under the Ascent Global Logistics segment and brand.

Do you know of someone in your professional network who has amazing superhuman marketing leadership powers? Then this person may be worthy to nominate for the 2018 TMSA Marketing Executive of the Year. Nominating someone is relatively easy, doesn’t require a lot of time in preparing the nomination, and there is no fee for a TMSA member to make the nomination. But the deadline is fast approaching (April 20) so make the nomination soon. > More

In the meantime, here are five key characteristics that are most common in marketing superheros.

By Jeff Davis, Founder of The Sales and Marketing Alignment Summit and The Alignment Podcast. Davis will be the keynote speaker at the upcoming 2018 TMSA Logistics Marketing & Sales Conference, June 10-12 in Fort Myers, Florida.

In my previous post about Sales and Marketing Alignment (S&MA) I discussed the results of an online survey I conducted to explore the reasons why there is a "disconnect" between Sales and Marketing in many companies. In addition, I discussed the financial performance impact S&MA has on the business. It's significant.

Last Thursday, TMSA held yet another Connections Seminar – this time in Jacksonville at Landstar’s corporate headquarters. One of the primary goals of the TMSA Connections Seminars is to drive conversations and sharing of ideas among those who attend. After all, you can learn the most from your peers. Here are some of the biggest take-aways shared among this regional group in the Jacksonville metro market.

What are the concerns and challenges you’re hearing from your customers/shippers?“The Amazon Effect” seems to be raising expectations from shippers on such issues as supply chain visibility and performance, service levels, pressures to decrease costs, and guaranteed delivery. The group had consensus that technology is enabling much more visibility into processes and the state of operations/supply chains. But one attendee said that every time he’s asked what technology they have available, he asks this question: “If you had the technology, WHAT will you then do with the data?” He mentioned that while the expectations exists from shippers to have technology, reporting, and data visibility, they oftentimes don’t have a clear vision on how to leverage this. For providers, this could be another opportunity to add value to the relationship.

Five years ago, I posted a blog that was derived from a LinkedIn Sales Management Group. A range of people responded to the question, “What advice would you give a new salesperson?” To that list, I added my own observations.

Employee engagement begins with leaders showing that they value their people and that they are willing to spend time and resources helping them capitalize on their strengths. However, studies show that only a small fraction of today’s leaders are creating an engaging environment for their people.

Engagement can be increased by creating appropriate development programs both for your leaders and your individual contributors. Start by determining what your organization needs and what goals you want to achieve. Then you’ll be ready to explore what kinds of plans and programs are available to address the specific issues, challenges, and objectives that are critical to achieving your ideal organizational state.